Inside Small Business | Small Business & Home Business Marketing
Archive for 2008
How Can I Get the Media Involved?
Since Day Dreamin’ Exotics is a start-up company with limited resources for advertising, we have tried to use creative techniques to generate interest from local media personalities. This can be very difficult, as some of the television and radio personalities view themselves as celebrities rather than media personnel.
We have used our cars to create interest in our product. We were able to take the Aston Martin and Viper to the Utah Jazz Playoff game this week. The Jazz charge several thousand dollars to park a car on the plaza and show them off. Because we do a small amount of advertising with KFAN, the local radio station that broadcasts the games, we were able to put our cars in their space with a KFAN sticker displayed. It made KFAN look great and we got our cars on the plaza for free.
We turned to guerilla marketing and a free Tour give away to increase the hype. Every news team in town was on the plaza broadcasting live. We were the perfect backdrop for several hits. I spoke with a number of the anchors during the evening. One in particular is a car guy and has a huge interest in Day Dreamin’. Not only does he want to do the tour himself, but also his producer called me the next day to arrange a short segment for the news.
Not every new business can boast $600,000 worth of exotic cars, but try to find a way to generate interest for the media. Try to find something newsworthy. If you can get one or two people in the media excited and involved, it can produce thousands of dollars in free publicity.
The Tyranny of the Urgent
Wow! I just got a reminder today about what should be important about running a small business. Making our clients happy!
Instead - I got a lesson in marketplace competition (where I was on the losing end).
Here’s the situation: I had a client that had an open job posting for a project manager. I had the PERFECT candidate. I forwarded the resume in via the regular channels, and then I tried to set up a meeting with my client to discuss the opportunity, my perfect candidate, and the value proposition my client would receive from having a resource with skills from my company (vs. anyone else’s company).
Then - my client postponed due to a conflicting meeting. Then I couldn’t meet, we traded a few emails trying to arrange schedules, but I never got to give any of those valuable marketing messages to my client.
We finally managed to set up a meeting for next week, and I was all ready to give my wonderful marketing messages.
Then - I got an email from the client’s Human Resources director (who manages the hiring). They sent out a generic email stating that the company had just filled the position - and thanked us for sending in resumes. I got shut out.
So - I think it’s a great lesson in letting the day-to-day urgent tasks get in the way of the important tasks - like building relationships, and performing long term planning.
Make sure you’re not caught up in the day to day so much that you don’t do the things you need to grow.
Great idea…no money!
Teague Bengtzen, President
Once we had the idea of online greeting cards we could not sleep! Every morning we would meet with new ideas, “What about the printing the sender’s return address?” or “What about being able to schedule cards to be sent in the future?” or “What about offering gift cards and chocolate and gift baskets?” or “What about letting the customer upload any amount of photos they want?”. The idea was the easy part. Now what do we do?
It was determined that Card Café should be a global business – chipping in a few thousand dollars here and there would not cut it. We needed big money. We started going through everyone we knew. We were sold on the idea, now we had to sell them. We found it was not hard to raise money because we already had the experience and equipment (we owned a printing company) AND the idea was something everyone could understand and see the need for. $200,000 seemed like a lot of money so we set that as our goal. We burned through it in a few months. Raising money was one of the most time consuming projects for the first 2 years and it is NO fun!
We found having samples of the product to show our friends and family made a world of difference. People have a hard time visualizing what “could be”. We also found that asking for small amounts like $20,000 increments made it much more appealing to people. Also, many of the people we spoke with wanted to know what our exit strategy was - people want to know they can expect a return in 5 years or less.
A word to the wise - whatever amount of money you think you need – double or triple it!
Week 2
This has been an interesting week for Escondido Real Estate and the mortgage business. Interest rates have been all over the map, moving by over 30 basis points on the 10 year bond twice this week. The good news is that once it went up, and the next time it came down. I like the coming down part better.
Office difficulties this week, as the property management company decided that they really needed to install a roof drain directly above my office. That meant that everything got a nice plastic covering and I was consigned to working out of my car for an entire day. I love being self employed.
On a different note, House Resolution 5830 in the US House of Representatives is dealing with the ongoing subprime crisis, and trying to decide how the government will run to our rescue. Ronald Reagan once said that the scariest phrase in the English language is “We’re from the government, and we’re here to help.” It looks like both parties, Mr. Obama, Mrs. Clinton, and Mr. McCain all feel like there needs to be a “principal cramdown” to reduce the amount of debt owing to no more than 90% of the current appraised value. That’s going to cost billions. Of course, the current flood of foreclosures is costing billions as well.
It’s Hiring Time – Gathering Resumes
For me, going through the process of hiring new employees is fantastically frustrating. It’s a time consuming, uncertain, potentially expensive process. I suspect it’s the same for most small business owners. We would much rather spend our time growing and maintaining our businesses than dealing with things that, while important, keep us from our primary tasks. Even so, it’s time again to conduct another round of hiring here at eReplacementParts.com.
It’s always tough to get those resumes flowing in. There are lots and lots of companies out there that can help you find potential employees. In fact, the second you place any visible job ad they’ll come knocking at your door. While I’m sure their services are extremely helpful and convenient, we’re way too small to be able to pay fees of $5,000 or more per employee. It’s simply not an option, especially when we’re hiring entry level employees.
We’ve had pretty good luck using free or relatively inexpensive services to find employees. The first thing I always do when we need another employee is place a free ad on craigslist.org. If I place the ad in the morning, I’ll usually have ten or so resumes by the end of the day. It’s a great start. Also, lots of churches provide free services for connecting employers and job applicants. Try calling your local parish or synagogue. We’ve dabbled in newspaper classified ads with limited success but this can get expensive in a hurry. To be honest, I’ve found the very best way to find quality employees is through my own personal networking. I’m always sure to get the word out to friends and family that we’re hiring.
As our hiring process continues over the next few weeks I’ll make sure to keep this blog updated. I’ll talk a little more about checking references, interviewing, and making job offers. Stay tuned!
Studying Feasibility
While it was easy enough to sample the products of mineral makeup companies simply by placing orders, it was a bit trickier to get information about how well these small businesses were doing. With notable exceptions, business owners aren’t typically anxious to share their secrets with potential competitors.
By calling or writing to a dozen or so for advice, though, I did manage to conclude that mineral makeup in general was indeed a hot commodity. One company owner claimed the product was “flying off the shelves” of those who were marketing it. And everywhere, it seemed, I kept hearing the phrase “women who try it never go back to regular makeup.”
Another indication of the appeal of selling mineral makeup as a small business, as opposed to a big-name player, was the sheer number of companies doing so. On eBay alone, nearly 200 store fronts at any given time offer mineral makeup, either by selling the dominant companies’ products at reduced prices or by marketing their own brands, and many of these storefronts have off-eBay companion websites. There are thousands of searches for mineral makeup on eBay every day.
While I was still gathering information and samples for my mineral makeup enterprise, I sold on eBay to get some experience selling on-line. There is a wealth of information and knowledge to be gained from selling on eBay, from how to purchase various products at wholesale to shipping charges and methods, and I would strongly recommend eBay selling to anyone considering online retail sales as a business.
The owner of one of the small companies I approached was particularly forthcoming about the field of mineral makeup. In a brief conversation, she filled me in on some of the challenges and controversies I would be facing, from how to handle the minerals to which ingredients to avoid and why. Her advice was priceless, and shortly thereafter I began to test colors and formulas.
Meanwhile, more than a thousand folks have visited my website! I am all aflutter.
What’s your plan?
Probably the most critical skill that a business owner (and especially a consultant) needs is the ability to plan. Surprisingly, this isn’t a skill that many people can do well. Everyone says they can plan- but in reality, the plan is a collection of random items without structure and is effectively a “to do” list.
Why plan? Because you can set dates, milestones and budgets (all these things should be available from your plan). Most importantly - you can set expectations.
So what makes up a good plan?
The plan needs structure, and it needs to tell a story. I typically break a plan into 3 sections - Plan, Prepare, Execute.
Plan is just that - list out the tasks that you need to complete the plan. This includes research, structure, and other activities necessary to develop your plan.
Prepare is the section devoted to gathering the materials you need to actually perform the plan. This includes gathering materials, preparing documentation templates, and identifying remaining details about execution of your plan.
Finally Execute - these are the steps that actually make something happen.
What are the guidelines to creating a plan?
First - EVERY step in the plan has a deliverable. There should be a document, or some other tangible result of each step on your plan. “Think about marketing” isn’t a plan step - there’s no deliverable. “Develop Marketing Questionnaire” is a plan step - the deliverable is “Draft Questionnaire”.
Second - In order to define the plan - you have to be able to count everything. “Perform Market Research” is open ended - and you can’t count the deliverables. “Perform 3 target market studies”, with deliverables as “under 18, 18-35, 35 and up” are quantifiable and definative.
Third - assign effort, duration, due date and dollars. Each deliverable should have a number of hours associated with it, and an expected delivery date (example - performing market research may take only 8 hours of time, but the surveys will be conducted over a 2 week period. Both facts should be included in your plan. That way you can budget the time, and also have an expecation of when things should be complete. You should also assign cost to each line item (even if it’s your own time - put your expected hourly rate). That way you can really see that “time is moneY”.
Fourth - Manage. You’ve created the plan. However, no good plan is ever executed the way you drew it up. Some things will take longer than expected (an estimating problem). Some things won’t be available when you expect them…causing delay (a resource allocation problem). Some things you won’t know how to do - and you’ll need help (a skills problem). That’s where your skills as a manager come to play - you need to react to these things, juggle time, resources, and external factors to make sure that your end goal is achieved.
Fifth - Mitigate. Think about all the things that can go wrong in your plan. Make contingency plans for these items, or at least acknowledge the risks associated with them. You’ll be surprised how much thinking about “bad stuff” will cause you to re-think your plan and tackle something differently - in order to reduce the risk profile of your plan.
Good luck!
Relationship Marketing
In my business, getting new clients is all about relationships. The quality of the photography has to be a given and customer service totally has to stand out if I want to get noticed and be remembered. I can understand why good managers are always preaching, “delegate, delegate, delegate…” because getting out into the community and making good relationships and connections can be a full time job!
This week I have spent the bulk of my time cultivating a relationship in a market that I have just begun to “tap into” for its potential. I have a great connection with a director for a kids and teen theater company. They teach acting, singing, and music for kids who want to try and get cast and find agents for the whole “hollywood scene.”
So this week I was invited to take photos of their dress rehearsal and do cast and headshots. We made a trade (which is great by the way when you can find something where 2 business can mutually benefit one another!). I gave them the cast shot that they could sell as a fundraiser for the theater in exchange for a booth at the show and the opportunity to hand out my promo material and sell the rest of the photos to friends and families.
So far it seems like it has been great. The Theater is happy because they have free photos showcasing what they do and all their hard work. And I’ve been given direct access to a pool of people who are going to need the services of someone like me on a regular basis. They’re definitely going to need to update their headshots for casting calls at least twice a year to stay current with growing and changing kids 
So put away your fear, stop sitting in front of your computer monitor, and get out there and meet somebody! It’s all about free Word of Mouth connections!!!
Business Cards, Signs, and HUD Requirements
One of the joys of being an FHA Approved Lender is making sure that I meet all of the legal requirements that are HUD (Housing and Urban Development) mandated. Things like Equal Opportunity Housing placards, Approved Lender signs, and a bunch of other things that you wouldn’t think you need to do in order to sell a loan. In these times of lender fraud, borrower fraud, the housing crisis, and the subprime mortgage meltdown, there are requirements aplenty before I can even open the doors. The Escondido Real Estate market anxiously awaits!
So, this week, the signs go up. Business cards and stationary are on order. Necessary inspections are scheduled. I actually have to have someone come by and inspect my office to make sure that I really do have an office. They have to see my filing cabinets and phone system to see that I exist!
I get to do a loan some day, right?
Keeping an Eye on Profit and Loss
Before we had learned to keep track of our finances properly we made all kinds of missteps. There were small, relatively harmless mistakes like buying too much of a small inventory item, or buying an unnecessary computer. And then there were the big mistakes. Every one of these mistakes could have been avoided if we had only been keeping track of our finances the right way.
After we had been shipping our power tool parts for a year or so something became really obvious: DHL Ground was losing a lot less packages than US Mail was. Plus DHL gave us a tracking number and a guaranteed delivery schedule. I decided to drop US Mail altogether and have all of our packages shipped using DHL. This would have been perfectly all right but here’s where I made my big mistake. DHL cost more than US Mail, and I was so afraid that higher shipping charges would turn away customers that I decided to send everything DHL but charge the much lower US Mail rates. This meant forfeiting some profit on certain orders and taking an outright loss on others. I just figured that the profit from the orders would overall outweigh the losses from the shipping carrier.
Turns out I was wrong. To make things worse, we had no way to view our company’s profit and loss statements. We were completely winging it. If we had been carefully watching our costs and looking regularly at margins and the bottom line, we would have been alerted to the problem within a couple of weeks. Instead, we kept losing money for months and months without any idea of what was going on. It was a total disaster.
As soon as we were watching our numbers properly we quickly made some changes to our shipping. US Mail was reactivated as a shipping option and the DHL prices were raised to where they should have been. Like flipping a light switch, we were suddenly profitable that day and everything was fine. After that period of time we’ve watched our profits and losses very carefully. Use QuickBooks or whatever program you prefer for your accounting and stick to it. I won’t ignore accounting as a business owner, and we handle our own books. For us, it’s the only way to keep our heads above water.
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